We did not receive another visitor till three days out from Port Said, on 23rd September, when a Wheatear (Saxicola œnanthe) came to tea and slept the night. Next morning another had arrived, and a little later a Redstart (Ruticilla phœnicurus) put in an appearance. The Wheatears left in the afternoon for the south-east, and the Redstart made itself quite at home on one of the guns. It so happened that a sailor was turning out his "bag" (which is a nautical receptacle for clothes), and the ship during her twelve years in Australia had collected a very fine breed of Cockroaches. As the sailor was shaking out a jumper a Cockroach was jerked out on to the deck in front of the Redstart, who pounced down and greedily devoured it. That started half the crew Cockroach-catching, in which I joined myself, and there never was a pampered bird so banqueted before. I gave it eleven, and it was fed till dark; the capacity of its stomach was truly remarkable.
During the night our ship's terrier caught a small bird, which I believe was a Whitethroat from an examination of the chewed remains in the morning.
On sighting Malta, our friendly Redstart left us and flew away, not towards the land, but in a southerly direction towards the African coast; so I imagine the Redstart did not perch on board us for the sole purpose of resting, but had lost its way, and on its seeing Malta it recognised a landmark in the route southwards, and proceeded on its migratory course. The weather was fine all the way from Suez.
I never sighted another land bird till we were forty miles off the Land's End, when, in a strong north-easterly gale on Oct. 15th, a Song Thrush (Turdus musicus) flew on board. I never saw a more slovenly untidy bird, but as it was the first to welcome me home after an absence of five years from England, I forgave it its slatternly appearance. It didn't stay long, and, after trying vainly to fly to windward, turned tail, and was blown away on a course which would have eventually landed it in South America. Earlier in the morning I had seen a Duck (sp. inc.) very high up and flying very fast towards Ushant; but I can hardly include this in the list, as I failed to recognise the species. That completes my list of birds, and H.M.S. 'Royalist' arrived next day at Falmouth.
